Top Box Office: May 3-5, 2013 Studio Estimates

While it's not suprising that Iron Man 3 dominated the box office this week, what is surprising is that it brought in the second highest gross in US film history this weekend with a whopping $175.3 million at the box office.  Avengers is number one still with a $207.4 million opening weekend.

Opening next weekend are The Great Gatsby and Peeples.  I would count on Iron Man 3 carrying it's positive buzz and taking the top spot in the box office again next week.  I wouldn't be surprised if Peeples was number 2 since Tyler Perry's audiences always seem to support his movies strong, especially opening weekend, and for The Great Gatsby to be disappointed with a third place opening.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Iron Man 3	BV	$175,300,000	-	4,253	-	$41,218	$175,300,000	$200	1
2	1	Pain and Gain	Par.	$7,600,000	-62.5%	3,287	+10	$2,312	$33,919,000	$26	2
3	3	42	WB	$6,210,000	-41.7%	3,345	-60	$1,857	$78,336,000	$40	4
4	2	Oblivion	Uni.	$5,797,000	-67.4%	3,430	-362	$1,690	$75,969,000	$120	3
5	5	The Croods	Fox	$4,225,000	-37.2%	2,915	-368	$1,449	$168,743,000	$135	7
6	4	The Big Wedding	LGF	$3,875,000	-49.0%	2,633	-	$1,472	$14,210,000	$35	2
7	11	Mud	RAtt.	$2,150,000	-3.0%	576	+213	$3,733	$5,158,000	-	2
8	13	Oz The Great and Powerful	BV	$1,822,000	+0.6%	1,160	-450	$1,571	$228,568,000	$215	9
9	7	Scary Movie 5	W/Dim.	$1,435,000	-58.2%	1,857	-876	$773	$29,603,000	$20	4
10	9	The Place Beyond the Pines	Focus	$1,298,000	-52.4%	1,162	-422	$1,117	$18,678,000	$15	6

Credit goes to BoxOfficeMojo.com for the table and numbers. 

Episode 55 Notes

Here are the official show notes for Episode 55: You Won't Hear It Coming. We start off this episode talking about calendar related content, Star Wars Day and Cinco De Mayo.

Movie Review: Iron Man 3

Obviously, one of the main focuses of Episode 55 of the AB Conversation podcast is Iron Man 3, so if you want to hear Anthony and I discuss this movie check that out.  One of my "New Year Pod Resolutions" is to do more written content for the website, including movie reviews.  I figure the only way I can get better at writing movie reviews and hopefully expanding the brevity of the podcast is by actually writing movie reviews, so let's go.



This summer movie season started off with a bang as Marvel Films knows how to make a blockbuster that sets the bar for all other movies in the summer months, in other words Tyler Perry Present's Peeples has some mighty stiff competition in Iron Man 3. Iron Man 3 continues the story of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who is still recovering from the alien attack on New York and has replaced the partying part of his life with his obsession of being Iron Man and creating new sets of armor.  Meanwhile, the villain in this movie, The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) begins taking over the television airwaves nationwide claiming responsibility for a number of bombing incidents. When The Mandarin's latest bombing attack becomes personal to Tony Stark, the battle between Iron Man and the mysterious villain known as The Mandarin is on.

I regard the first Iron Man movie as one of the best comic book films of all time along with The Dark Knight and The Avengers, but was a little disappointed with Iron Man 2.  With this one changing directors from Jon Favreau (who still appears in the movie as Happy Hogan) to Shane Black, I was excited to see the franchise take on a different direction.  Shane Black has wrote some awesome movies like The Monster Squad, Lethal Weapon, and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (which put Robert Downey Jr back on the map and earned him the role as Iron Man).  Due to Black's propensity for action comedies, I was expecting this to be an even more lighthearted than Favreau's which had a good sense of humor to them as well, and I was not mistaken.  This is easily the funniest of the Marvel films as Tony Stark is firing out one liners like photon blasts.  Iron Man 3 may also have some of the best action sequences of any Marvel movie to date, or at least right up there with The Avengers, the sheer destruction that takes place is impressive.

I only had a few minor quibbles with Iron Man 3, the first being that it didn't set up any of the upcoming movies in Phase 2 of the Marvel films.  The first Iron Man had that epic moment at the end of the movie where Nick Fury showed up and movie history was set into place and Iron Man 2 had more Nick Fury as well as the debut of the Black Widow.  While this keeps the rich history alive, it does nothing to push Phase 2 into hyperdrive or set up Avengers 2.  The 3D was added in post and therefore doesn't really do much to add to the movie, if I were you I would just hold onto the surcharge amount and see the movie in 2D.  You would think in a big action blockbuster like this, something would stand out of the 3D, but sadly it does not.  While I liked the music for the most part, those that are expecting to hear AC/DC blasting when Iron Man makes an appearance will be sorely disappointed.

Writing a review about this movie is pretty pointless because pretty much everybody that wants to see this movie is going to hit the theaters and see it opening weekend and those that aren't probably aren't all that interested in the first place.  If you are an inbetweener, I highly suggest checking it out as it works great as an action-comedy as well as a superhero flick.  The exchanges between Tony Stark and James Rhodes, harken you back to the dialogue between Riggs and Murtaugh.  While the duo of villains were quality actors in the second Iron Man (Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell), I was blown away by how they handled The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pierce).  Ben Kingsley gives an amazing performance and his performance is reason alone to see this movie. Also a big kudos to Ty Simpkins' character Harley who plays off of Tony Stark so well and provides a ton of laughs and also Paul Bettany who never gets his due as the awesome voice of Jarvis. 

This action packed thrill ride is full of laughs and keeps re-inventing itself throughout.  While the there are still some contract issues to be sorted out and this very much ends the Iron Man trilogy, I would be very disappointed and surprised if this is the last we see of Tony Stark on the big screen.

4.5 Stars out of 5

If you like this movie, I recommend:



Read the comic book, the Extremis storyline in this movie is based on.

The Secret Origins of Brent Rambo

While I have no recollection of this happening, I must confess that I lead a secret life.  Recently there has been a gif going around the internet of the "Thumbs Up Kid."  Due to the blonde air sticking up, similar facial structure, propensity of doing the thumbs up, love of Apple products, and same first name, I can only conclude that I was the star of an Apple video in the early 90's.  The only thing that would make me think it isn't me is the last name, but honestly if I was going to pick a stage name, I could not come up with anything better than Brent Rambo.  That is seriously the greatest name ever and am considering going to the courthouse and getting my name changed this instant.  Hopefully, when I talk to my parents next they'll recall this event and finally put an end to this mystery.

Free Comic Book Day: May 4, 2013

One of the greatest days of the year is coming up, this coming Saturday, May 4, you can literally walk into comic book stores and they will give you comic books for free!!!



All of the major publishers as well as a ton of the smaller publishers have books available to pick up.  This is both a great way for people that already read comic books to try something new without making a financial investment but also for people that don't read comic books to hop aboard the train and give a variety of comic books a try to see what interests them.  As Anthony and I have always said, there's a comic book out there for everybody, you just have to find it.  No matter what your interests there's a comic book for you.  Most stores will do special sales or promotions for Free Comic Book Day and there's a chance of a local creator doing a signing at your shop depending upon where you live.

There's a lot of interesting offerings this year, you can see a complete list here but I'll highlight some of the bigger titles here.

Coming from Marvel is a special preview issue of Marvel's upcoming event, Infinity, which will be written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Jim Cheung.  This story will surely focus ar, ound Thanos' quest for the Infinity Gauntlet, which if the end of Avengers is any indication might be an upcoming story in the Marvel films as well.  This special issue will not only show you the opening shots that lead to this special event, but will also feature Thanos' first solo story as well as a preview of a major Marvel release that hasn't been announced yet.



DC Comics will be doing their best to raise interest in their upcoming Man of Steel film by offering up their Superman: Last Son of Krypton Special Edition book written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner with art by Adam Kubert.  This book features the first chapter of the Superman: Last Son of Krypton graphic novel as well as a preview of the new The Man of Steel monthly series coming out soon by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee.



Also for fans of the Walking Dead TV show, there's a special issue containing a new story about the character Tyrese done by the normal Walking Dead team of Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard.  This book also reprints short stories about Michonne, The Governor, and Morgan.



There's also books involving The Smurfs, the TV show Grimm, Judge Dredd, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mass Effect, Star Wars, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Tick, Stan Lee's Shakra the Invincible,  Avatar: The Last Airbender, Hulk Agents of Smash, Sesame Street, Spongebob, and Bongo's Free For All featuring The Simpsons.

So find your nearest participating dealer on the Free Comic Book Day site, go there Saturday, May 4 and pick up some free books.  And while you are there, purchase something that you find interesting and support these small, locally owned businesses.  Most shops have a huge variety of things to choose from between action figures, board and card games, trade paperbacks, manga, t-shirts, and just about any other geek related merch you would be interested in. 

Top Box Office: April 26-28, 2013 Studio Estimates

Unsurprisingly the new Michael Bay movie, Pain and Gain, starring The Rock and Marky Mark went on to lead the Box Office this weekend.  The surprising part may be that it only made $20 million this weekend, as this is Bay's lowest opening weekend since The Island in 2005.  The only new release, the romantic comedy, The Big Wedding ended up getting fourth place and opening up very soft considering the cast involved with the movie.

Going out on a limb and going to predict that next weekend that Iron Man 3 movie is going to top the charts, if the buzz is any indication that movie is going to make some huge bank.  (*)

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Pain and Gain	Par.	$20,000,000	-	3,277	-	$6,103	$20,000,000	$26	1
2	1	Oblivion	Uni.	$17,443,000	-52.9%	3,792	+9	$4,600	$64,731,000	$120	2
3	2	42	WB	$10,725,000	-39.5%	3,405	+155	$3,150	$69,079,000	$40	3
4	N	The Big Wedding	LGF	$7,500,000	-	2,633	-	$2,848	$7,500,000	$35	1
5	3	The Croods	Fox	$6,600,000	-28.5%	3,283	-152	$2,010	$163,025,000	$135	6
6	5	G.I. Joe: Retaliation	Par.	$3,620,000	-37.2%	2,707	-468	$1,337	$116,396,000	$130	5
7	4	Scary Movie 5	W/Dim.	$3,457,000	-43.8%	2,733	-669	$1,265	$27,494,000	$20	3
8	7	Olympus Has Fallen	FD	$2,768,000	-38.2%	2,334	-304	$1,186	$93,076,000	$70	6
9	6	The Place Beyond the Pines	Focus	$2,699,000	-45.1%	1,584	+42	$1,704	$16,205,000	$15	5
10	9	Jurassic Park 3D	Uni.	$2,310,000	-43.0%	1,848	-482	$1,250	$42,000,000	$10	4

Credit goes to BoxOfficeMojo.com for the table and numbers.

Episode 54 Notes

Here are the official show notes for Episode 54: www.abconversation.net.  We start off the show talking about new website as well as some friends of the podcast @RDHPodcast and @Skiznot.